Hatteras Offshore Open
Marvin Aldridge, Capt. Jerry Shepard, and the crew of the "Wired Up" took home over $30,000 as the overall winners of the 2011 Hatteras Village Offshore Open. They released a pair of blue marlin and a white marlin while trolling near the 000's over the course of the tournament to secure the victory.
Their first release of the tournament was actually the fish that earned Chesapeake, VA’s “Wired Up” crew the win in the Hatteras Village Offshore Open, held May 11-14 out of Hatteras Harbor Marina. Though they released a pair of blue marlin later in the event, they’d have been tied with several other boats were it not for the white marlin they let go just before 10:00 on the tournament’s first fishing day.
Marvin Aldridge was fishing the tournament with Capt. Jerry Shepard, Steve Jones, Mike Dillon, Mike Wood, and Matt Currin aboard his 40’ custom express. Despite not pre-fishing for the tournament, the anglers had a game plan in place when they left the dock on Wednesday, the tournament’s first morning.
“Jerry has a favorite marlin area this time of year,” Aldridge explained, “and it’s the only place we had to go in the tournament last year. It’s a little bit below the Triple O’s.”
Around 9:30, an SCH plug the “Wired Up” anglers were dragging attracted the attention of a white marlin, and the crew was able to tempt it to take a naked ballyhoo pitch bait, scoring the release just a minute after calling in the hookup.
Angler Mike Wood manned the rod for the quick battle, and Steve Jones took care of the wiring duties.
Around one hour after they got on to the leader board, the same SCH lure that had raised the white struck the fancy of a 250 lb. class blue marlin, and this fish inhaled the plug itself. Matt Currin took control of the fighting duties, and the fish stayed in the water, enabling the crew to back down on it and score another quick release, calling it in 11 minutes after hookup with Jones again on the leader.
The rest of the day proved uneventful in terms of producing something for the leader board, and the anglers headed back to Hatteras in the lead after the event’s first day.
Choosing Thursday as their next fishing day, as they thought southeast winds would make the rest of the week a little more unpleasant, the crew set out for the same area, this time trolling until 1:00 in the afternoon until another 250 lb. class blue marlin crashed a Pakula Sprocket in their spread. Mike Dillon took the rod for the crew’s second blue and held on while it took to the skies.
“That fish was wild, jumping all over the top of the water,” Aldridge explained. “It was quite a show.”
The aerial display must have tired the marlin, as the team was again able to secure a fast release, calling it in 10 minutes after the hookup.
Their second blue was the last billfish they hooked during the event, and the team spent a tense two days listening to other boats report hookups, releases, and lost fish on the tournament radio channel.
“We heard Sea Striker had hooked a big one Saturday morning,” Aldridge said. “They were working on it all afternoon, so we thought it was a big one. My nephew was worrying everybody at Hatteras Harbor, and I eventually had to tell him to go somewhere because he was making us all nervous.”
The “Sea Striker” fish ended up being under the event’s 400 lb. minimum, and they released the fish at 4:11, happy news for the “Wired Up” team.
“I can’t describe the feeling,” Aldridge reported after realizing his crew had won. “Everybody here has been really good to me over the course of the years, and it’s just incredible.”
A pair of blue marlin releases earned second place in the event for Oregon Inlet’s “Outer Limits” crew, and the “Sea Striker,” of Morehead City, tallied two more blue marlin for third place.
More information and a full leader board rundown are available at www.hvoo.org.
